Hetalia RISE OF THE KRAKEN the Rock Opera Act I
by Nymph Echidna
Summary: A steampunk AU treasure hunting story with the UK as an airship crew. TW: OC's and Nyotalia characters I'm doing the main writing, plot, and character design/personalities and stuff, Polina is doing worldbuilding and helping me fill plot holes and designing most things that aren't people, and Kimanda is translating my bad jokes into an actual narrative and editing my mistakes.


It was five years since Arthur had last been to the small fishing town of Iasc Beag. What a dumb sounding name, he'd thought. And he was right. The town also smelled bad on top of that. Like fish and too many people.

Iasc Beag had been built as a trading and fishing post on a large, hook-shaped peninsula of sand; the short, stilted buildings housed short, irritable people who had probably lost their sense of smell centuries ago. Only recently had it become popular as a port and industrial center.

As his airship approached the town, he was impressed with how it had doubled in size since the last time he'd visited. He looked ahead for the once quaint rows of wooden houses that had now become a tangled, haphazard stack with people sandwiched into them. Ships of all kinds were tied at the town's busy docks; smoke rose from the many chimneys of the two steel mills. A sandstone quarry had been dug in the center of the peninsula as well, and a busy railway stretched along next to it and up north past the tall stone church.

A cold, damp breeze brought the scent of overheated metal that jolted Arthur back to the task at hand. He silently thanked himself for deciding to find the mechanics for his crew first; his engine was a mess after the poor job he'd done taking care of it in the time he'd had the ship. In the year he'd been without a crew, she was quickly falling into disrepair.

He sighed lamentably at the creaking and groaning of the rigging on the balloon above as he brought the ship up next to an empty dock, and gave the control panel a comforting pat as he cut off the engine.

A light rain began to fall as he left the docks, bringing a damp, dreary atmosphere to the crowded buildings towering around him in the main market. The people hardly seemed to notice, carrying on in the cold grey haze and discussing their business in dull, monotonous murmurs, a voice occasionally calling to someone across the crowd. He tried asking about the men he was looking for, but the most information he'd gotten was from a young woman saying they lived somewhere on the older fishing side of town. She didn't know exactly where. He sighed and thanked her for the help anyway, then headed in the direction she'd pointed, pulling down the brim of his hat as the rain began to fall heavier.

As the cloudy sky darkened into night, Arthur stopped outside a large, crowded tavern. He was cold, tired and getting soaked to the bone. Maybe he might run into the men inside. It seemed like the only social spot on that side of the town, he could at least find someone that knew them.

He entered and edged his way up to the bar through the crowd, muttering a nervous apology at an irritable-looking man whose shoulder he'd bumped into.

"Whiskey please," he waved at the bartender, trying to sound as tough as he could manage.

It didn't work, his attempt at dressing down to blend in still left him in clearly nicer clothes than anyone around him and he stuck out like a well dressed, sore thumb.

The bartender gave him a smirk as he poured his drink and handed it to him. "What's an overdressed moneybags like you doing here?"

Arthur sighed in exasperation as he took the drink. Well, he tried. "Looking for a pair of twins, Jack and Sean Ferguson. Brown curly hair, grey eyes, a bit short? You know where I could find them, by chance?"

But before the man could answer, a hand grabbed Arthur forcefully by the shoulder. He sat bolt upright and turned around, shooting a hostile glare at its owner; a barrel-chested fisherman eyeing him with a horrible, nearly toothless grin. "Fancy little hat you got there mate, your father buy it for you?" The man said with a laugh.

Arthur scowled and downed his drink before standing up. "I'll have you know I bought it myself, custom made by the finest tailor in Britain," he snarled, refusing to back down. A few minutes later Arthur was up backed up against the back door with five snarling fishermen surrounding him.

"I may be perhaps a fool, but you dare call yourselves men?!" Arthur growled lowly, about to reach for his pistol when the door behind him opened and he fell backwards, was yanked to his feet, and pulled into an alley before his ass could hit the ground, .

"How in the name of Christ have you survived on your own for five years?" A familiar voice hissed in the darkness.

Arthur sighed in relief as he was brought to the light of a nearby lantern. He knew the narrow, freckled face even before it was illuminated, smiling wryly at the look of sheer frustration he was being given. Just the man he was looking for.

"Oh, I could've handled that," he chuckled and dusted off his coat, straigtening his collar with a look of superiorty. "I've taken on more than five men at once."

"I'll bet you have," Sean smirked and punched Arthur in the arm.

The other gave a sigh, wincing at the punch, "Ah, just as funny as you were when you were fifteen years old, I see. Where's Jack? You lads still wasting your lives with old boat engines and fish?"

"Pretty much, yeah. Made some friends...probably made more enemies. We moved into a new place. I'll take you there, you can tell me what the hell you've been up to this whole time." Sean explained as he began to guide Arthur through the alleys, his voice dropping to a low mutter. "Jack's off in the market doing some business, said he saw you wandering about out there earlier. The hell're you doing back in this dump? Thought you would've shoved that silver spoon right back in your mouth after dealing with our lot as long as you did."

They rounded a corner and emerged on a small seaside dock with rows of doors and darkened windows, a few rickety staircases clinging to the buildings.

"Sean, I am hurt! I thought you knew me better than that," Arthur smiled as he ducked his head out of the way of a splash of rainwater from a rooftop above. "No, I've kept myself fairly busy. I made a bit of money and spent it all on a ship, a little treat for myself. Nothing fancy, one engine and a bit of storage. The balloon is nice, I managed to get it for a pretty good bargain as well."

Arthur caught a spark of interest in his friend's eye as he was led up one of the staircases and smiled. He knew he had him as soon as he'd mentioned an airship, but there was still some convincing to do before he could get both of them to stick around for the ride.

"And just what do you think you need an airship for?" Sean asked incredulously. They reached a door on the third floor of one of the taller buildings in the area and stood next to it as Sean pulled a key from his pocket.

Arthur smiled wistfully and leaned on the doorframe, gazing up into the cloudy sky in a very important looking way. "To accomplish possibly the most important thing I will do in this life. Make more money than I shall ever need."

Sean chuckled as he unlocked and opened the door, placing his lamp on a hook inside. "Ah, of course. Which is clearly why you've come to the paradise goldmine of Iasc Beag. Seriously though what the hell do you want from me and Jack?"

Arthur followed into the room behind him, removing his hat and coat to shake off the rain. He glanced around the cramped hole in a wall they called a house as he hung his things up on a hook next to Sean's.

"That obvious, huh? Well, I'll be straight with you then." He took a seat on a barrel as Sean kicked off his shoes and fell onto his bed, holding an apple in his mouth. Arthur explained, "I've had this ship for a year and it's become fairly clear to me I can't keep it running by myself. I'm one man and I don't know a thing about engines or ropes or keeping things in the air."

"So why not hire a fancy mechanic closer to home?" He tossed Arthur an apple and turned onto his side to face him with a searching look. "Why come all the way over here just for us?"

"Ah, that's the thing," Arthur said as he took a bite of his apple. "I don't just need mechanics. I need a crew, a loyal one. People only look after themselves, you can't hire a man off the street and expect him to stick with you when you when the going gets tough."

"And when exactly are you expecting the going to get tough?"

Arthur smiled and took another bite. "I've heard some stories over the past few years, about a small fortune of hidden treasure. Enough to share with a few trusted friends, I might add. Of course, as with all treasures worth hiding, it isn't gonna be easy to get."

Sean sat up and regarded Arthur for a minute, weighing his options before speaking again. "We've finally started to make a life for ourselves here, you know. We have a house, and a way to make a living. You expect us to jump on your magical wonder ship and just fly away from that?"

Arthur gave a slight shrug. "Well, no. Not right away, anyway. But I know you and your brother, and I know you're not gonna want to be stuck in this damp hell on stilts for much longer. Sure, you could get killed on the journey. But you could do that here and it wouldn't be nearly as fun." Arthur grinned and finished off his apple.

Sean gave a slight laugh as he tossed his apple core to the side. "Well, you've got a point there. But I still need to talk it over with Jack. What's the details about this thing? Where's the treasure and what's gonna make the trip so dangerous?"

"It's harder to locate than any buried chest of jewels," Arthur explained excitedly. "Maps and charts are useless, and all we have to go on to find it is stories. But there's almost no competition, and the wealth will set us all up for the rest of our lives. Problem is, it's always moving, miles in the air and higher than most airships can reach." He leaned forward, his voice dropping in case there were unkind ears nearby. "On the Floating Island. Calaore."

"He's insane! I knew it!" Arthur heard Jack laughing again in astonishment as he and Sean made their way to the airship docks where Arthur was waiting. The rising sun began to clear the thick morning fog, the skies clear of any trace of the previous night's storm.

"It's the year he spent by himself, I'm telling you, that'll mess with your head!"

"Nah," Sean shook his head and held the stairwell door open for his brother. "I'll bet it was some poison or voodoo from a faraway island, or he was driven mad with some tropical disease."

Arthur regarded the twins with a look of disapproval, but not without a hint of amusement as they jogged up to him and began to look over his airship.

"Or, he hit his head one too many times."

"More like ten too many."

"You two should write a novel," Arthur sighed as he turned to face his ship. describe ship. He proudly presented, "Well, here she is, the HMS Highflyer. You two still not interested in joining in?"

Sean snorted in offense. "You ain't gonna win us over with some glorified balloon."

"Give us a look at the engine," Jack added. "We'll see if it's anything worth sticking around for."

They boarded the Highflyer and Arthur told them they could look about as they pleased. He stood proudly by the ship's wheel as Jack and Sean began to explore, and despite their aloof façade, he could tell they were like kids in a candy shop as they climbed up to inspect the glorified balloon. He guided them down to the engine room as they discussed the ship in hushed tones.

Arthur grunted as he pulled open the thick metal door to the engine room, and they were all assaulted with a gust of searing hot air.

"Jesus Christ, man!" Shouted Jack as they all staggered a few steps back. "You keeping Hell itself in your ship or something?"

"It's uh...not in the best shape, I guess." Arthur admitted with a grimace. He thought it might have cooled down a bit more by morning.

"You haven't had this thing running since last night! What the hell're you doing to this poor thing?" Sean quickly went into the cramped, hot metal room to assess the damage. "A Hall-Scott engine! You've got a Hall-Scott engine going so hot I could roast a chicken in this thing!" He took another short look around before rushing back out, looking alarmed. "You're like the...the Gremlin to engines!"

"Oh please," Arthur scowled as he shut the door. "Why the hell do you think I'm hiring you two? So I can enjoy the smell of fish and motor oil on my travels? I need to know if you can fix this thing and keep it running, tune it up so it can handle the altitudes we need to reach." Jack and Sean paused for a second, exchanging a look.

"Well, I'm sure we can do the first two," Jack responded with a grin. "And we can at least try and tune it up. We'll see if we feel like sticking around for your little adventure here."


End file.
